Tuesday, December 29, 2009

I was super tempted to title this post "Testimony Tuesday: Cultivating Cilantro and Change," but I wouldn't want to take my unabashed love for alliteration too far. But as my cheesy-would-be-title suggests, it is Tuesday and I would like to share a testimony from a farmer in the Dominican Republic.

Facundo Santos is a hardworking farmer and businessman in the Dominican village of Zumbador. With Plant With Purposeʼs help, he is improving his farm and transforming his life and the lives of his family.Facundo has planted many different types of trees in his agroforestry plot, providing income and nutritious fruits. Plant With Purposeʼs projects have helped to restore productivity to his barren land, improving the health, nutrition, and outlook of his entire family—he has ﬁve children!

His most successful project has been the cultivation of cilantro.Plant With Purpose provided credit and training for Facundo to invest in and improve his cilantro business, and the results have been astounding.Facundo says, “Plant With Purpose has impacted my income now that I receive support with credit and advice for the cultivation of cilantro. This has brought an improvement in the quality of life for my family: my children can eat better, study more and we can buy medicine.”

Now that's a story of hope if I ever heard one! To equip more farmers like Facundo to build a better life for their families click here.